ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that while violence has declined substantially since 2010, an analysis of the driving forces that sustain insurgency suggests that this triumphalist narrative should not be overstated. India faced insurgencies in the Northeast almost immediately after independence. Beginning with a small insurgency in Tripura in the late 1940s, a much larger insurgency then broke out in the Naga Hills from the early 1950s, the Mizo Hills from 1966, in Manipur from the 1960s, Tripura and Assam from the 1970s, and Meghalaya from the 1990s. The Naga insurgency to this day remains India’s longest-running conflict, while its geographic location adjacent to the India–Myanmar border, and its role in financing and training regional armed groups has earned it the title of the “mother of all insurgencies” in the region. The region’s strategic vulnerabilities have long played a critical role in facilitating insurgent arms procurement, finance, training, and logistics.
